Emma Potter

103: Dance Lessons

"Potter, Weasley! Will you pay attention?"Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whipthrough the Transfiguration class--the Gryffindor's last-- on Thursday, and Harry and Ronboth jumped and looked up. 

It was the end of the lesson, and the day; they had--it looked like-- finished their work; theguinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shutaway in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk (Neville's stillhad feathers); they had copied down their homework from theblackboard ("Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches"). 

The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, whohad been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George'sfake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tinparrot and Harry, a rubber haddock. We had been sent from Charms to meet them.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at thepair of them as the head of Harry's haddock drooped and fellsilently to the floor — Ron's parrot's beak had severed it momentsbefore — "I have something to say to you all."The Yule Ball is approaching — a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with ourforeign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years andabove — although you may invite a younger student if youwish —"

 Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle. Parvati Patil nudged herhard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not togiggle. They both looked around at Harry. Oh, god.  Professor McGonagallignored them, which I thought was distinctly unfair, as shehad just told off Harry and Ron. 

"Dress robes and gowns will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued,"and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishingat midnight in the Great Hall. Now then —"Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class."The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to — er — let ourhair down," she said, in a disapproving voice. 

Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hardagainst her mouth to stifle the sound. I could see what wasfunny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tightbun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.

 "But that does NOT mean," Professor McGonagall went on,"that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect fromHogwarts students. To do so; we will do a practice dance."

"A practice dance?" asked Nicholas, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Tallow, a practice dance" said Professor Mcgonagall, looking around "any volunteers?"

A few Gryffindors raised their hands, so did a few Slytherins. Mcgonagall surveyed the hands "Malfoy and Ms Brown" A few muffled giggles, Lavender blushed slightly, Malfoy, on the other hand, looked disgusted. I couldn't help but feel a little smug as he dragged his feet to the center of the classroom. 

However, when he put his hand on Brown's waist I couldn't help but feel a clawing feeling in my gut; like--like I wanted them to stop, it didn't help when the music started (Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers)

Their steps were clumsy, Lavender stepped twice on his shoes, making him choke down some words he daren't say in front of Professor Mcgonagall. Speaking of which, professor mcgonagall looked worried. "Stop!" she said "Ms Brown; go back. Let's try someone else. No, Mr Malfoy you stay here." she looked around "Ms Greengrass!" she called "let's try you."

Cue the music. Cue weird unpleasant feeling in my stomach. Cue me wanting to rip the girl's head off. Cue them falling to floor. 

"Get up both of you." said Mcgonagall exasperatedly "no, no. Oh, you'll need all the help you can get." sighing she surveyed us once more; her beady eyes finally landing on me. "Ms Potter" she calls, as Draco dusts himself off, and Astoria takes her seat "you give it a go."

To those of you smirking; you can jolly well stop right now. 

"Oh" I said "er...well, professor. . . see the things is. . I don't dance."

"Oh, it's only practice" said professor Mcgonagall impatiently. 

"I'd rather not" I said. 

Professor Mcgonagall narrowed her eyes, but Zoe intervened. "You know professor" said Zoe "it is so like Emma to be modest."

Huh?

"Graceful as a swan" said Zoe, nudging me "bet she and Malfoy will dance great together." 

"Yeah" said Nicholas grinning "go on, Ems!" claps began 

I groaned and reluctantly walked to the center. I turned to face Malfoy, well, rather face his feet. "You need to look up" he sighs.

"No I don't."

"Please, let's get this over with."

Easy for him to say. He must have grown up with this.

He took my hand in his, placed my hand on his shoulder, and used his free hand to gently tilt my head up to meet his eyes before placing it on my waist. "I'll count the beats for you alright?" he whispered in my ear, his breath warm "you need to go back when I go forward" he instructed as the music started "I'll go forward first. . ."

He stepped forward, and I--being clumsy--stepped backwards; I could hear him muttering the beats; whispering them so only I could hear them. 'One, two, three. One, two, three." 

I'm no Cinderella, I had neither practiced with buckets and mops, nor known when to do what. But all that said; I was better than the others. 

Eventually; my steps became one with Malfoy's and I didn't need him to count anymore. I followed his lead; letting his steps guide mine. Step after snychronized step the world faded away. The initial steps I focused on his feet; trying to figure out how to move, but as I grew more confident I allowed him to gently lift my face to meet his eyes. And--

I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. 

We neared the fast-paced part of the song. "I'm going to try a twirl alright?" he whispered, gently "just. . .relax." 

Hand tightening on my waist, he lifted the hand which was holding on to mine and spun me around, and as soon as it was over my hand returned to his shoulder and we went back to our previous steps. I could hear the finishing notes approaching a few moments later.

"Put both your hands on my shoulder" Malfoy said, with a sly smirk. I did not like the glint in his eye, but he knew more about this than I did. So, I did as he instructed.  As I did so both of his hands went back to my waist "hang on" he said.

With that he hoisted me in the air and twirled me around, just like in the Quidditch World Cup. It took all my self-restrain not to gasp. The final note played as he put me down. Claps boomed around us; and the fact that  I was doing this in front of my peers came back. I looked at Draco he had a dazed expression on him like he had just woken up; his eyes were still fixed on me

Everyone was clapping looked awed. Mcgonagall looked at us and said "seems like Ms Anderson was right." she said "Ms Potter and Malfoy did dance well together."